WHY keep your food diary hidden?

rlysrh

I have mine hidden because I don't log properly. I just work out the calories and add them in as quick add calories rather than finding the actual food. I still log all my calories accurately, I'm just not trying to limit sodium or carbs or sugar or fat or anything so I don't bother searching for the exact food when I add it in. So I'm pretty sure no one would ever want to read my diary and I CBA to explain myself for being lazy so I just keep it hidden.

bhalter

I know mine is open to friends, not sure if it's completely public or not. I don't care either way. If I was concerned about my nutrition or weight not budging, I would definitely want someone to be able to check out my diary and give me some tips on how to change.

Besides, I love looking at peoples' diaries for meal/snack ideas.

martalaurazayas

I had no idea mine was set to private. Thanks for the post. I just changed mine.

TheSarahHill

Why should you have it open? It's to log your food not for everyone else to see what's in your digestive system.

Personally mines open because I don't care but I understand people keeping theirs private,

pelleld

I agree.. i think its because they don't want to be held accountable...or to me are they being completely honest?

I hold myself accountable and am completely honest. I lost my weight through an "everything in moderation" approach. I still ate pasta and bread, cheese and other dairy, ice-cream every night. I also ate lots of fruits and veggies, salads and healthy fats. I logged it ALL and it worked for me.

That said, I have seen far too many people on here pass judgement on what others are eating or take a very extreme approach with their own eating. Some are unable to see that their approach doesn't work for everyone or that their way isn't the only way. Some judge or get argumentative. Keeping my food diary private allows me to disengage from this type of controversy and enjoy the many other pleasant aspects of MFP.

withchaco

I don't share mine because it's EMPTY. I use something else to log my food/ calories/ nutrients.

heatheranne1234

thanks for posting this. I had no idea that there was a setting for this; so I put my food diary to public:)

Sumo813

It's probably already been said, but I'm too lazy to read through the entire thread... but a lot of people who maintain lower calorie intakes (less than 1200) tend not to put their diary to an open state because of the fact that people on this site *can be* pretty harsh with their comments. Everybody has their own routine and what works for one, may not work for another... something many people don't seem to understand. So rather than understand why someone is only eating 900 calories, they'd rather just flame them and crush them and make them feel worse than they already might. There are also people who intermittently fast, and do the same thing to avoid harsh comments. To each their own. I have mine set to public because I spam it to FB as well.

Biancalee76

Mine is open to my friends. I eat weird food sometimes. Lol

whtlatina1214

seriously like i was wondering the same thing and some people get so offensive lik ei was looking @ diaries of people who have lost 20+ just to get an idea of how ya know and i asked one person for suggestions and got all kinds of mad ... dont understnd

kryshouston

People are scared I think, I unlocked mine so people could say, WHYD you eat that? You know

skinnywithin

I dont care id mine is private or not take a look you will find I lack in that department !not to mention I am the only one hurting when I dont eat healthy and I am my worst enemy !

mbar12

I keep mine public BUT I have had someone once tell me (cause I was eating Chobani yogurt for breakfast everyday for months) that too much yogurt can permanently mess up my digestive system with the "active yogurt cultures". I was annoyed by this, show me proof or hush.

lol, it wasnt their business, and I dont blame you for being annoyed (I also question their info). Personally I like mine open so that I am accountable, but I believe some may just not know that its closed unless one resets their settings.

bcampbell54

I've got no problem with folks who keep their diaries private.
However, the next time I see a post labeled "HELP! STUCK!" or some such nonsense, and the diary is private, why I'm going to..
Well, I'll do what I'm doing now. Not respond.

ladykiss103

I know that I've been judged for something or another my whole life so its not about judgement for me. If you are my freind you are for a reason I welcome your opinion and your advice. If you are not a friend and are a stranger just remember opinions are like *kitten*... everyone has one. Become a friend read my profile and learn about me before you can give advice on my eating habits.

MEGAmm

I went through an unhealthy cycle of eating very few calories and then binge eating... MFP has helped, but I still see that cycle present in a lot of my food diary entries. HOWEVER, this month I decided to make my journal public (to friends) to help keep me accountable. Having their support will hopefully demotivate my binges, and push me toward healthier eating. Honesty is key though! I pledge to be honest when I log my foods, no matter how embarrassed I can sometimes be about them.

raige123

I'm just curious.....I understand if you want your page to be private. However, why keep your food diary private???? Do you do this....if so what's your reasoning? I personally think by making it viewable to friends that it hold you accountable.

I decided to hide mine because it was unhidden at first and I took a lot of flack through messages because I wasn't eating my exercise calories back. People get very worked up over this, and I didn't like being made to feel like a horrible person because I don't, so I hid it!

mycrazyturtles

I love how people got so defensive.

I think keeping it open to friends not only keeps you accountable but gives other people ideas of what to eat. Or they can see how sometimes you can mix bad food in and still have an okay day. Or How you can have a slice of pizza and control yourself.

EDesq

I'm just curious.....I understand if you want your page to be private. However, why keep your food diary private???? Do you do this....if so what's your reasoning? I personally think by making it viewable to friends that it hold you accountable.

Some people do not want to be held "accountable" by anyone...Other than themselves and the scale and their Health Markers. That IS ME! I have been coming here about a year and I had "Friends", participated in News Feeds...That stuff eventually began to get the heck on My NERVES! People were interested in "just saying 'it's OK, you'll do better NEXT Time..." And weak stuff like that, OR they were interested in "Dumping" their problems on anyone who would listen...OR if a few were having success all they wanted to talk about was themselves - giving their daily "Update."

I have lost Over 100 lbs by eating right, I log daily and follow MY Wellness Plan. Some people do not or may not agree with what I eat...I don't want to hear that, nor do I want to see someone else's Diary and CHANCES are they are NOT losing weight and/or their health is LOUSY! I quit the "Friends" stuff, focused on ME and My Plan, stopped reading so many posts and NOW I am doing GREAT...I don't use this sight as a social networking place anymore. I am here for SELFISH Reasons...To Get Healthy and Lose Weight. That means getting useful info, logging every day... THIS keeps ME accountable. After all, WHY would anyone RELY on anyone else (Especially Cyber Strangers) to Keep them on Task and get Healthy?! Only someone who is NOT motivated and will always need others to pump them up...and if you need someone to keep you Motivated about your HEALTH then I do not want to be around that person...They will drain you and make you lose focus. That's ONE reason why over 80% of these people will NOT achieve what they came here for OR why 10% of the 20% who met their goals will regain and come BACK "Lamenting" about being BACK...

I not your entertainment, for you to sit around and look at My Diary when you are BORED...read a Book. For Me this is a SERIOUS PLACE...The QUALITY and QUANTITY of My LIFE are at Stake...and I'm VERY Careful who I share that with or allow in!

TamsinEllis

I keep mine open to friends but hidden from public, if I were to ask people on the forums questions about my health or lack of I would open it up because they'd need to know that to give me a proper answer. However, I have no wish to have someone criticizing my eating habits when I am not asking for help. I'm sure if I opened it up for people to see they could give me loads of information on what I'm not doing that if I did I'd be getting fitter faster (protein intake etc) but I'm quite defensive anyway and last thing I want is someone pointing out that I shouldn't have eaten that and should have eaten this instead, so on, so forth. I let my friends see it since they can give me constructive criticism (if any) that maybe I won't take so badly (yes I'm very defensive about my eating habits). Problem for me is without people adding me as a friend on here they don't/won't know anything that affects my eating habits such as allergies and intolerance to certain food (yes they are similar but not the same when it comes to food). I have a friend who is genuinely allergic to veg and fruit (I thought she was joking till she accidently ate melon and had to use an epi-pen and go hospital) and she's been on diets and that in the past and when questioned about it has had a number of people criticize her for not eating enough fiber or fresh veg etc because they have no idea that she's allergic, not their fault they make that faux pas but she finds it upsetting just like I would if someone pointed out I should eat something I can't. Besides no one on MFP needs to see my food diary unless I'm asking for help (that was my original point) so I see no reason to open it to public view.

kaetmarie

I keep mine open, but I could see setting it private -- once when I had a stomach flu, I was way under calorie and got a message about eating more or else I'll be entering starvation mode. Puh-lease. I've also received a message about drinking too much wine one night and going over calories...truth though, it happened whether I log it or not

Things like that don't bother me, but I could see that really discouraging someone else.

rml_16

I'm accountable to myself.

myak623

I have mine open to friends. I think it is helpful to see what folks are eating. I may see something in someone's diary I hadn't thought of.

I'm curious! What kind of food are people eating that they wouldn't want people to see? I mean... It's food! Are you eating bull testicles or monkey brains or something? Just wondering.

hebbby

I keep mine locked with a password. I don't want peoples opinions on what i am eating because i am doing what works for me and if i make less than ideal choices i am aware of them and don't need them pointing out to me. I doubt anyone would comment if i made my diary public but i can make sure i don't get comments if it is private.

cariliz

I didn’t mean to cause some to get so upset. I was just curious. I know, myself….I can learn from others. Whether it be what to eat or what not to eat. In addition, I love getting food/recipe ideas.

monicanicoletta

I agree!! I think it makes you more accountable to have an open diary. and hopefully we are all on here to encourage and support not judge or bash, we may point it out but its to be supportive friends. the only ones who bug me are the ones who complain on and on about not losing weight and doing everything then i read their diary and it says mcdonalds/wendys/pancakes almost every other day!

kennethmgreen

Just because I make decision A for reasons B, it does not mean that someone making the opposite of decision A doesn't agree with or subscribe to reasons B.

If someone chooses to keep her diary open for accountability, it does not mean that someone else who chooses to keep his diary closed means the decision has anything to do with accountability. I know it's easy to fall into the thinking-pit of "I think this way, everyone else surely must think this way too" but it usually results in miscommunication, myopia and murt feelings.

I think accountability is a good. I think making decisions based on a desire to be accountable is good. I commend all of you on MFP who are making decisions to be accountable. I don't care if your diary is private or not. Some of my friends that keep their diary private eat the most fascinating things because I like to comment on what I imagine they ate that day.

TheSarahHill

It's best when you log 3 mince pies in a day over Christmas and some jumped up little 'know it all' has to comment! ;-)

gunmetalsunrise

I don't want the opinion of random strangers telling me what to eat or how to eat. Which is different from me *asking* for opinions/help.

Plus, I just like my privacy. I have a different place to discuss with people and who help keep me accountable for getting more active, rather than eating (which I think I do pretty damn good on as it is).

AI1108

I don't have a weird relationship with food and have no reason to report to anyone or be held accountable about every morsel of that I put in my mouth. I'm healthy and seeing progress and loving life and that's exactly what I wanted out of keeping my food diary.